Apparatus for producing a continuous tobacco rod



y 1967 c. STELZER 3,318,314

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A CONTINUOUS TOBACCO ROD Filed Feb. 10, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 c. STELZER 3,318,314

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A CONTINUOUS TOBACCO ROD May 9, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 10, 1960 United States Patent Office 3,318,314 Patented May 9, 1967 3,318,314 APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A CONTINUOUS TOBACCO ROI) Carl Stelzer, Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany, assignor to Hauni-Werke Korber & Co. K.G., Hamburg-Bergedorf, Germany Filed Feb. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 7,911 Claims priority, application Germany, Feb. 17, 1959, H 35,644 6 Claims. (Cl. 131-84) The present invention relates to a device for producing a continuous tobacco rod, such rod being intended to be subsequently enclosed in a paper wrapper to form a continuous cigarette rod from which individual cigarette lengths or multiple lengths are to be cut. The invention is in particular concerned with the production of a tobacco rod containing in the same cross-sectional dimensions additional quantities of tobacco, which are spaced at distances corresponding to the length or to twice the length of cigarettes to be cut from the cigarette rod so as to provide cigarettes which have a greater tobacco density at the cutting point than over the remainder of the length of the cigarette. That is cigarettes which are relatively dense or compacted at one or both ends.

In accordance with the present invention a tobacco rod is produced by forming a stream of tobacco, subjecting the stream to a local compression action at spaced regions and thereafter removing tobacco from the surface of the stream so that the latter is trimmed to a uniform depth and contains more tobacco at said spaced regions than in the remainder of the stream.

Preferably the tobacco stream is confined within a channel guide and is subjected to the action of a periodically operating compression device operated to provide compacted regions in the tobacco stream at distances corresponding to one or two cigarette lengths subsequently to be cut from a cigarette rod formed by enclosing the tobacco stream in a paper wrapper.

The removal of tobacco from the stream is performed for the purpose of ensuring that the tobacco stream produced is of uniform cross-section but it is to be understood that after removal of the tobacco from the surface of the stream the tobacco may expand at said spaced regions so that such regions are of greater cross-section than the remainder of the stream. In the subsequent formation of the cigarette rod the latter is formed to a substantially uniform cross-section where the said regions comprise zones of greater density.

Various means may be provided for effecting the local compression of the tobacco stream and in one arrangement a periodically reciprocable plunger may be used the operative head of which may be formed by a roller and said roller may be driven at a peripheral speed corresponding to the speed of travel of the stream. Alternatively the compression .of the stream may be effected by means of a rotary member having a number of spaced projections which during the rotation of the wheel press against the tobacco to effect local compression at a point immediately before the removal or trimming of tobacco from the surface of the stream. In either case the degree of compression is conveniently such that there is substantially no tobacco to be trimmed from the surface of the stream at the points where compression has been effective. In some cases, however, the arrangement may be such that a certain amount of tobacco is trimmed off the stream at the points where compression has previously been effected, but more tobacco is trimmed off the rest of the stream.

Preferably the stream of tobacco is carried by a conveyor feeder, for example a rotary feeder wheel, and said tobacco is subjected to the action of suction while it is being conveyed by said feeder wheel. The suction action may, however, be released at or near the point at which the trimming operation is carried out so that the tobacco is allowed to expand to some extent before trimming is effected but with less expansion at the points where precompression has been effected by the presser means described.

The tobacco stream is then passed through a conventional cigarette rod-forming device to form a cigarette rod of uniform cross-section but with denser portions at the points at which the cigarettes are to be subsequently severed from the continuous rod.

Several embodiments of the invention are shown by way of example on the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating one of the successive stages in the formation of a continuous tobacco rod with spaced compacted portions according to one embodiment of the invention in which the compacting element is in a raised position,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the compacting element in its operative position to compact a section of the tobacco stream,

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 but showing the compacting element being moved away from the tobacco stream, and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 with the compacting element raised to its initial starting position,

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing the intermediate and final stages of a cigarette rod with spaced compacted portions and the areas in which said compacted sections are cut to form cigarettes with compacted end portions,

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view similar to FIGURE 5 and showing cigarette rod material with compacted portions and the zone in which the same are cut to form individual cigarettes with a compacted portion on one end only,

FIG. 7 illustrates in diagrammatic form one form of a device embodying the features of the invention, and

FIG. 8 is a detail view illustrating a modified form of the device according to the invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive, a horizontal conveyor belt 1 is provided and moves in the direction of the arrow A. The conveyor belt 1 carries a tobacco stream 2 which has an irregular surface and contains tobacco in excess of the amount required to form the desired tobacco rod and which has an average height h. The tobacco stream 2 is conveyed along the conveyor pathway and trimming means 3 is interposed in said pathway which removes the surplus tobacco 2a from the top surface of said stream. Beyond the trimming means 3 the stream of tobacco is thus reduced to the required crosssectional dimensions for uniform rod formation-corresponding to a height hand now has a smooth to surface.

The surplus tobacco 2a accumulates in front of the cutter 3 to a certain extent and the remainder is carried away by any suitable conveyor means and it may, for instance, be returned to a tobacco distributor which initially supplies the tobacco forming the stream 2.

Immediately in front of the trimming means '3 there is arranged a mechanically acting compacting means 4 which presses the accumulated tobacco against a horizontal counter plate 4a mounted beneath said conveyor. In the example illustrated the compacting means 4 comprises a vertically reciprocable and movable plunger provided on its lower end with a roller head 5. The compacting means 4 is so controlled that it will periodically descend on the stream 2 passing beneath it and compress the accumulated tobacco in front of said cutting means to an extent corresponding approximately to the height 3 h, thus increasingthe density of the stream, as shown at 2c in FIG. 2.

As long as the compacting means -4 is operative in the effective position shown in FIG. 2, only a little or no tobacco is removed from the travelling stream by the trimming means 3 because the tobacco beneath the compacting means 4 is compacted approximately to the height h which is the operative depth of the trimming means 3. When, as shown in'FIG. 3, a section of the stream of desired length C has passed underneath the compacting means 4, the latter is retracted or moved upwardly so that-as shown in FIG. 4the surplus tobacco can again be removedby the trimming means 3. When the compacted section of the stream has cleared the trimming device, the structure of the tobacco will in most cases again expand so that the depth of tobacco in section C will be greater than the depth h of the trimmed sections of stream, as shown in FIG. 4. Suitable means well known in the art can be provided for intermittently raising and lowering the compacting member 4 such as a cam engaging a follower roller on the member 4 or a crank driv-' ingly connected to said member.

In order to avoid the adherence of tobacco to the periphery of the roller 5 of the compacting means 4, which might occur in the case of certain types and kinds of tobacco, it is advisable to rotate the roller at a peripheral speed which corresponds to the linear speed of travel of the stream.

The compacting means 4'may be periodically operated in such a way that the suitable selection of the length C of the compacted section and of the relative distance L between two consecutive compacted sections will produce cigarette lengths Z or a cigarette Z as shown in FIG. 5, with a compressed head and end, or, as shown at Z in FIG. 6, with only a compressed head; that is after the stream has been fed through a cigarette rod forming device of a known kind and after the cigarette rod has been divided into individual cigarettes of single or double length.

FIG. 7 illustrates one form of a device according to the invention in which a tobacco stream 2 is formed fro-m tobacco deposited by a low-level tobacco distributor 10 on a horizontal conveyor belt 1 which is moved in the direction of the arrow B into the circumferential groove '8 of a rotary feed wheel 6 revolving in a vertical plane. The stream 2 in this instance contains tobacco in excess of predetermined requirements.

The circumferential groove 8 of the feed wheel 6 is provided with a perforated bottom wall so that reduced pressure within a chamber defined between the two dotted radial lines 11 will hold the tobacco stream in the groove. Ifdesired, the reduced pressure may be made to approach atmospheric pressure in a zone adjacent the trimming device 3 as indicated by the space between the two dotted moves through a guide device E and is thenfed together with a cigarette paper strip 14 into a cigarette rod forming device F. In this embodiment the roller 5' of the compacting means 4 may be driven to conform with the peripheral speed of the suction feed wheel 6.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the invention similar to FIG. 7 but with a modified compacting means and trimmer including a rotary member 7 which rotates about a horizontal axis 10' and is provided with two or more radially projecting parts 15. This member 7 is driven at a speed which is such that the peripheral speed of the end projections 15 is approximately the same as the peripheral speed of the tobacco stream in the feed wheel 6 and is positioned so as to exert a desired local compression on the moving tobacco stream. This member 7 is positioned as closely as possible in advance of the tobacco stream trimming means which may be arranged as shown in FIG. 7.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for continuously forming a tobacco rod having longitudinally spaced equidistant portions of greater density alternating with portions of lesser density, in combination,-conveyor means for feeding a stream oftobacco along a conveyor pathway, trimming means adjacent said pathway and located in the path of said tobacco stream for trimming excess tobacco from said stream and for thereby transforming the stream into a tobacco rod of uniform cross sectional dimensions as the stream moves along said pathway, compacting means mounted along said pathway in juxtaposed relation to and in front and in close proximity to said trimming means, and means for moving said compacting means in a direction transverse to the direction of said stream to compact longitudinally spaced equidistant portions of the tobacco stream before the stream is engaged by said trimming means, the compacting action of said compacting means being such that at least the major part of tobacco contained in said equidistant portions may bypass said trimming means.

2. A device for producing a stream of tobacco which is compacted at spaced zones thereof, comprising means including a reciprocable plunger for intermittently compacting laid stream of tobacco at lengthwise and longitudinally spaced zones; a conveyor for moving the stream past said plunger so that the plunger compacts tobacco against said conveyor; and means disposed beyond and in closely spaced relation to said compacting means for removing tobacco from the surface of the stream so that the latter is trimmed to a uniform height and contains more tobacco at said compacted spaced zones than in the re mainder of the stream, said reciprocable plunger being arranged to compress the tobacco in said stream immediately in front of said tobacco removing means, whereby the major portion of the tobacco in said zones will not be engaged by said tobacco removing means.

3. A device for producing a stream of tobacco which is compacted at spaced zones, comprising means including a plunger with a rotatable roller at the free end thereof acting upon a travelling tobacco stream for intermittently compacting the stream at lengthwise and longitudinally spaced zones, and means for driving said roller at a peripheral speed corresponding to the travel speed of the tobacco stream; and means disposed beyond and in closely spaced relation to said roller for removing tobacco from the surface of the stream so that the latter is trimmed to a uniform height and contains more tobacco at said compacted spaced zones than in the remainder of the stream, said roller being arranged to compress the tobacco in said stream immediately in front of said tobacco removing means, whereby the major portion of the tobacco in said zones will not be engaged by said tobacco removing means.

4.In a tobacco rod making machine, in combination, a conveyor adapted to advance a filler stream; tobacco feeding means adapted to feed tobacco to said conveyor so as to form on said conveyor a filler stream containing an excessof tobacco over that required for the tobacco rod, said conveyor being adapted to move in an elongated path to advance said filler stream toward a rod forming means; tobacco compressing means located adjacent to said conveyor and being arranged to move in a path having a component which is transversely directed with respect to said elongated path and being adapted to compress spaced portions of the stream against said conveyor providing compacted spaced zones therein; and trimming means located adjacent to said elongated path and downstream of said compressing means for removing said ex- 5 cess of tobacco from the stream thereby forming a filler stream having a uniform cross section and having compacted zones alternating with zones of lesser density.

5. In a tobacco rod making machine as set forth in claim 4, wherein said conveyor is arranged to move in a straight path.

'6. In a tobacco rod making machine, as set forth in claim 4, wherein said conveyor is arranged to move the tobacco stream in a circular path and wherein the tobacco compressing means is arranged to compress the tobacco stream substantially radially with reference to said circular path.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 231,947 9/1880 Allison 131-64 548,686 10/1895 Williams 13184 6 10/ 1921 Grupe.

7/1929 Hopkins 131-66 X 4/1930 Schunemann 13 11 10 7/ 1934 Arelt 13163 3/1938 Molins. 8/ 1942 Granstedt 13181 4/1943 Arelt. 11/ 1953 Rault 1-3166 11/1953 Rault 13184 FOREIGN PATENTS 121/ 195 3 Germany.

3/1953 Sweden.

15 SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

ABRAHAM G. STONE, JOSEPH S. REICH, Examiners. 

4. IN A TOBACCO ROD MAKING MACHINE, IN COMBINATION, A CONVEYOR ADAPTED TO ADVANCE A FILLER STREAM; TOBACCO FEEDING MEANS ADAPTED TO FEED TOBACCO TO SAID CONVEYOR SO AS TO FORM ON SAID CONVEYOR A FILLER STREAM CONTAINING AN EXCESS OF TOBACCO OVER THAT REQUIRED FOR THE TOBACCO ROD, SAID CONVEYOR BEING ADAPTED TO MOVE IN AN ELONGATED PATH TO ADVANCE SAID FILLER STREAM TOWARD A ROD FORMING MEANS; TOBACCO COMPRESSING MEANS LOCATED ADJACENT TO SAID CONVEYOR AND BEING ARRANGED TO MOVE IN A PATH HAVING A COMPONENT WHICH IS TRANSVERSELY DIRECTED WITH RESPECT TO SAID ELONGATED PATH AND BEING ADAPTED TO COMPRESS SPACED PORTIONS OF THE STREAM AGAINST SAID CONVEYOR PROVIDING COMPACTED SPACED ZONES THEREIN; AND TRIMMING MEANS LOCATED ADJACENT TO SAID ELONGATED PATH AND DOWNSTREAM OF SAID COMPRESSING MEANS FOR REMOVING SAID EXCESS OF TOBACCO FROM THE STREAM THEREBY FORMING A FILLER STREAM HAVING A UNIFORM CROSS SECTION AND HAVING COMPACTED ZONES ALTERNATING WITH ZONES OF LESSER DENSITY. 